Lives of the Criminals was originally published in three volumes and sold by John Osborn on Paternoster Row. The volumes recount the lives, crimes and executions of 18th century lawbreakers. By setting] forth the entertainments of vice in their proper colours, the volumes were intended to provide a moral banister and reminder that, far from treading a glamorous road of pleasure, the path taken by a criminal was in fact a highway to the gallows.